Red Bull Racing performed relatively well at the Australian Grand Prix but faced significant chassis issues in China and Japan. Drivers Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar described the car as difficult to handle, with Hadjar calling it 'undriveable' and dangerous at times in Suzuka. Team principal Laurent Mekies acknowledged the need for deeper analysis ahead of upcoming races.
Red Bull's start to the 2026 Formula 1 season has highlighted chassis weaknesses despite a competitive showing in Melbourne. At the Australian Grand Prix, Isack Hadjar qualified third, and Max Verstappen recovered from a qualifying crash to finish sixth. However, performance dropped in China and Japan, where qualifying gaps to pole widened from 0.785 seconds in Australia to 0.938 seconds for Verstappen in China and 1.200 seconds for Hadjar in Japan, according to team data. Mekies noted the car struggled to find a good operating window in those races, particularly in certain cornering conditions. Verstappen emphasized that the power unit from Red Bull Powertrains-Ford is not the main problem. 'I think our deployment was good. That's also not our biggest problem, to be honest,' he said after Japan. 'We're not like Mercedes, they're super strong, but we have a lot more work to do, definitely a lot more work to do on the car.' Hadjar went further, revealing the RB22 became so undriveable in Suzuka that it felt dangerous. Mekies explained that McLaren was not yet at full strength in Australia, masking Red Bull's deficits, which have since become clearer as rivals like Mercedes and McLaren improved. The team now has time to analyze data before Miami. 'We need the time to dive deep into our data,' Mekies said. 'Am I confident that the team will get to the bottom of that understanding and start bringing improvements already in Miami? I think that's what you will see.'
